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‘Tis Joust a Flesh Wound: A Fiber-Arts Model of Gregor Baci’s Facial Injury with a Lance
- By Lealani Mae Acosta
- visuals
- 3 Comments

About the Artwork
“The portrait painting of Hungarian nobleman Gregor Baci has fascinated viewers since the sixteenth century: While little is known of his life, his head is immortalized as being skewered by a lance. The story is that while jousting he was pierced through the eye by a lance that went through the back of his head, but he survived the injury. Doubts about the veracity of this event have persisted over the centuries, but a modern case report described a patient who suffered a similar nonfatal injury. I was captivated by Baci’s alert, though bloodied, eye in his portrait and wanted to honor his story by recreating the image via fiber arts. Using knitting and crocheting techniques, I constructed a life-sized fiber-arts replica of a jousting lance that pierces a model of Gregor Baci’s head. This unique cranial injury is of interest to the practicing neurologist, and this fiber-arts model serves as a point of discussion at the medical center where I practice.”
Lealani Mae Acosta is an associate professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Her clinical care, research in cognitive and behavioral neurology, educational focus and love for knitting and creative writing blend both the art and the science of medicine. She has published poetry, prose and visual arts in peer-reviewed venues.
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3 thoughts on “‘Tis Joust a Flesh Wound: A Fiber-Arts Model of Gregor Baci’s Facial Injury with a Lance”
Before I opened the emailed link I laughed, because I thought it was a pun reference to the Black Knight in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’. Reading your explanation has educated me about someone I’d never heard of, and neither reaction distracted me from the talent evident in your beautiful art. Thank you for sharing. This is a fabulous way of combining your skills.
I tend to favor puns and Monty Python did cross my mind when I titled this piece, so glad it garnered a chuckle from you. Thank you for your kind words!
Very creative. I hadn’t heard of that incident.What were Baci’s lingering symptoms? Phineas Gage suffered a similar injury in the 1800s and it changed his personality completely.